WordPress development is not just about writing PHP code and utilizing the right set of plugins & themes.
Any WordPress agency would know that a lot goes into the process. For example, if it’s a client’s project (or in case your team is collaborating remotely), there are several essentials you will invest in, such as:
- Offline/Online staging environment;
- Hosting to help ensure that your site is working properly when live;
- Significant storage space for version and backup management;
- A Collaboration aid to help streamline feedback and revisions.
Even after putting in money for all of the above, there will still be the need for extended working hours to deliver your project in a timely manner.
Now what if you have a tool for managing everything mentioned above? It’ll be great, right?
Well. there’s one. Read the next section to find out about it.
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10 Ways to Simplify WordPress Development [with InstaWP]
InstaWP is a WordPress professional’s all-in-one toolset. It can speed up the WordPress design and development process, saving you from dozens of headaches of WP development.
Here’s a developer’s guide to using InstaWP optimally:
1. Save your Work as a Template
As an agency, you often develop sites that have similar elements. For example, an eCommerce site will have WooCommerce and a few WooCommerce-compatible plugins. On the other hand, a niche blog will have an SEO plugin, an image optimization plugin, a table-of-contents plugin, and so on.
For such scenarios, InstaWP templates are super-useful.
One can save a WordPress site as an InstaWP template to reuse the site’s configuration (e.g., installed plugins, themes, pages, settings, etc.) any number of times.
This way, InstaWP users can build sites with their preferred plugins and themes quickly. A little customization, and the new requirement-oriented site will be ready!
Tip: Build base sites for diverse needs and save them as InstaWP templates for reuse.
Creating an InstaWP Template
- Log in to your InstaWP account and go to Sites.
- Click Add New +.
- Now, you need to find out the common plugins/themes/configurations to add to your template. You can pre-install them from various plugin categories.
- Modify other settings, such as site label, PHP version, WordPress version, and so on, as deemed fit.
- Click Create Site.
Now, you have a WordPress site ready.
This site can be replicated (using the clone option), migrated to your preferred host, or exported in seconds. You can also map a domain to this site and go live immediately. However, let’s go back to fulfilling our actual purpose for now, i.e., creating a site to convert it into a template.
To add more plugins/themes to this site speedily, click the site’s name and go to the Install Plugin/Themes tab. Use WordPress.org repo slugs or zip files to proceed.
You can further configure SFTP/SSH for this site.
Want to modify it using the WordPress admin dashboard? Use the Magic Login button or copy site credentials to log in to your site quickly.
Now, you can either make slight modifications or proceed with custom WordPress development of this site. The purpose should be to build a base site that can be reused often.
All done? Click Save Template for this site.
To save your site as an InstaWP Template, you must add a Template Name and a short Description to it.
Save your template as Shared or Private.
Using the InstaWP Template
Once you have created a template, go to the Templates page in your InstaWP dashboard and click the Create New Site button.
Choose to create a temporary (the one that expires) or reserved (permanent) site. Hit the Create Site button.
You’ll have a whole new WordPress instance that is similar to the template.
The same can be done any number of times now.
Now, you can build sites for your clients in 2 clicks, and customize them before delivering the project.
This process will reduce the WordPress development time for your agency to a great extent.
2. Use Ready-made templates
You have learned to create custom templates in the previous section already. However, if you do not want to proceed with custom WordPress development, you have the option to use ready-made templates from the InstaWP Template store.
Choose one from your preferred category or by the page builder. You can even use the search to find an optimal template.
Using an InstaWP template is particularly beneficial because, besides giving your site a professional look, it will also have pre-configured plugins as per the site’s category. That’s what gives it an upper edge over WordPress themes.
3. Try out the built-in Code Editor Functionality
If you are into WordPress plugin development or WordPress theme development, you might be more interested in an online WordPress code editor that allows remote collaboration and hassle-free file management for your project.
Luckily, InstaWP lets you take care of your custom WordPress development tasks without worries. Just navigate to Tools > Code Editor to begin editing your website’s code.
The tool has an advanced code editor that allows file management as well as editing.
Habitual to use VS Code? You can use VS Code’s InstaWP Integration for your WordPress sites.
4. Manage your Site’s Versions
Being a WordPress design and development agency, you must have to manage your site’s versions as well as backups. Taking local backups with every minor edit is a time-consuming task and requires a good disk/storage space.
Instead, you can build sites using InstaWP and maintain their versions in your dashboard.
For this, simply go to Versions for your preferred InstaWP website and click Save New Version.
The same thing can be repeated every time you want to save your website’s snapshot for later reuse or backup.
The Versions tab for your site contains all previously-saved versions too. So, whenever you wish to restore your site to an old version, click Restore.
It is also possible to download a version or download a version’s database file.
Using InstaWP for version management enhances the security and accessibility of your site’s snapshots, alongside letting you manage various sites through one dashboard.
The best part is, version management for your WordPress website’s is a one-click process with InstaWP. Also, versions are organized better in your InstaWP dashboard than the backups on your local device or storage like Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive.
5. Enable SFTP & SSH for your Site
When you are into custom WordPress development, it becomes essential to think twice before using any tool for your client’s sites. It’s because a bad choice of tool will put your customer’s data at stake.
The above implies it is preferred to enable SFTP and SSH for your sites much before you deliver them.
While the above usually requires fetching certificate and following a long process, InstaWP has made it a task of seconds.
You just need to go to SFTP/SSH for a site and enable both (or any) settings.
Once done, you can easily copy SFTP details and use them for accessing your site via FTP client securely.
SSH keys can also be generated and used without hassles.
6. Access DB Editor
At times, it is convenient (or essential) to use a Database editor instead of modifying site’s data using the dashboard.
Developers may need to modify or delete data in bulk. Custom WordPress theme development or plugin creation also demands accessing and modifying a WordPress project’s database.
When you are an InstaWP user, you can find a DB Editor in your site tools and use it without worrying about anything.
A new tab will open, displaying an Adminer window, which serves as a tool for creating and managing the contents of SQL databases.
Now, you can easily make changes in your site’s database.
7. Take Feedback and Deliver Projects Faster
InstaWP has a great set of features and capabilities for WordPress development experts. The tool allows various integrations to improve its potential further.
As a WP development agency, you can try out InstaWP’s Atarim integration to collaborate better with your team/clients and deliver projects much faster.
Atarim is a great tool for visual collaboration when it comes to development projects. People from your team or client’s team can add feedback as comments by clicking anywhere on a web page.
Go to Integrations and enable Atarim’s integration.
After adding email and configuring it for your InstaWP account, you will see Atarim’s icon in front of all your sites.
Next, ask the internal or external reviewers to add comments and speed up revisions.
8. Troubleshoot better with InstaWP’s Log Viewer
When your client’s site is down due to an issue, your priority is find that issue and resolve it to make it live as soon as possible. But how to find that issue faster?
Well, tracking logs for a WordPress site is a great approach to save troubleshooting time. It empowers developers with valuable insights into site performance, security, user behavior, and potential issues.
InstaWP lets you track your WordPress sites’ logs in an advance manner. Using this tool, you can access your site’s error logs, access logs, command logs, and debug logs at once.
With this, troubleshooting a website becomes really easy and fast.
P.S.: Go to Site Tools > View Logs to check logs while you use InstaWP.
9. Leverage InstaWP’s 2-way Sync Feature
InstaWP Connect, which is a companion of InstaWP tool, is a must-use staging plugin for any WordPress development agency. It offers swift staging setup, ensuring hassle-free hosting of your test site with no clutter in your account.
The plugin, alongside many useful features, comes with 2-way sync functionality, which enables seamless synchronization of changes between the live and staging environments.
To use this feature, install InstaWP Connect on your live and staging website.
Go to Create Staging > Sync and enable event-listening using the toggle button.
After enabling this feature, all changes made to your WordPress website through the admin dashboard will be recorded.
The above implies, your WP development team need not update changes manually when it comes to making them live. They just need to select the changes to sync with the live site from staging (and vice-versa) and go ahead.
Watch this video to understand how 2-way synchronization works for your WordPress sites as you use the InstaWP Connect plugin.
10. Do 1-click Plugin and Theme Testing
Want to check various plugins and themes before adding one to your custom WordPress development process? That’s easy with InstaWP.
Install 1-click WP plugin and theme launcher chrome extension of InstaWP to simplify your life.
Can’t download InstaWP’s Chrome Extension? Use this download link to get it manually. Read this blog post to know why it’s unavailable.
With the InstaWP Launcher, initiating WordPress instances directly from the wordpress.org plugins and themes page becomes a seamless process. Within 30 seconds, you can have a fully operational WordPress website up and running, complete with your chosen theme or plugin.
To employ this functionality, begin by installing the WordPress Chrome extension. Once installed, navigate to any plugin or theme available on wordpress.org, where you’ll notice an additional “Launch” button on the page.
A simple click on the “Launch” button is all it takes.
For InstaWP users, the plugin or theme demo launches instantly. Non-users may need to follow an extra step or two to proceed with the process.
Comparing plugins/themes by trying them will definitely help you make better choices and improve the quality of sites you’re developing.
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Besides the above-mentioned features, InstaWP also lets you manage multiple WordPress websites through one dashboard. It has Git Repo integration and PageSpeed Insights like abilities to speed up the development process manifold. Once your site is ready, you can go live with InstaWP or migrate away from the tool effortlessly.
Sign up with InstaWP to develop and manage WordPress sites faster.
